Hundreds of Somalis marked the 67th Somali Youth League Day (SYL), a national holiday in Somalia over the weekend on Saturday at Nairobi’s Charter hall with pomp and colour and lots of Somali poetry and music on display in the hope of rekindling nationalism among today’s youth.
The holiday is normally marked to celebrate and honour the 13 SYL members who were instrumental in the liberation of Italian-colonized southern Somalia. The SYL is respected across the Horn of African nation and enjoys support across the country including Somaliland which was colonized by Britain.
The message to the youth, many of who are directly involved in the ongoing conflict as foot soldiers for the Al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam militant groups waging war against the interim government and African peacekeepers was simple: Stop the bloodshed and destruction of your country and emulate the SYL who bravely fought the colonizers and helped Somalia regain its dignity and independence.
Speakers at the event included Somali ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Ali Nur, Professor Abdirahman Badio of Mogadishu University, both called for the youths to embrace peace. The event was also attended by approximately 600 Somalis, mainly the youth some of who clad in the sky-blue Somali flag colours.
A 20 year old civil war is raging in Somalia pitting the Shabab and Hizbul Islam militant groups against fragile government and Ahlul Sunnah Sufist group. The capital Mogadishu is the epicenter of the bloody war where civilians suffer casualties more than combatants. There are also similar conflicts in the central regions of Somalia mostly pitting Shabab against the Sufist Ahlul Sunnah group.
UNHOLY WAR
“Its time for the Somali youths to take responsibility of their actions. Many of them have been brainwashed to fight in an unholy war that is only destroying their country and killing and maiming their own brothers, mothers and children. The war has gone too far, the youth who are the engine of this unnecessary war should be nationalist and stop the destruction,” Poet Abdirashid Omar, who launched his latest poetry album dubbed “Dheelmato” or the nightly mover, said after the show.
An African Union Peacekeeping mission or AMISOM based in the capital Mogadishu is poorly funded and has only 5,600 soldiers who are far much less than the insurgents and is struggling to help the interim government. The insurgents have also not spared AMISOM either which has so far lost close to 100 peacekeepers with many more injured from Iraqi-style roadside bombs and suicide attacks on its bases in Mogadishu.
The UN Special Envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah sent a statement calling upon “the Somalis Somali elites within and outside the country to show unity in their vision and actions to reject blatant interference undermining their independence and dignity.” He hopes the SYL day anniversary will “serve as a rallying cry for Somalis to stand up to retake their sovereignty as they began doing 67 years ago,”
Khadija Fodey, one of the Somali artists who entertained the huge crowd summarized the mood of this important day.
“We were happy when we used to celebrate like this back home in our country….. Our government taught us what a nation is, but the youths born after 1991 don’t know what a nation is. I am really surprised what changed the youth. I hope they will restore the country image another time,” She said, sweating from the vigorous jig they displayed amid a thunderous applause.
Source: http://beforeitsnews.com
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